All the virtue signalling of the yobbo';s who want their plastic CCP flags and thongs, which they have probably have never bought in their lives before, is really very amusing considering Oz day was only invented in 1994. The 26th of Jan was probably the second or third landing of the fleet. It's just another piece of accepted history that appeals to the challenged one's. Why is it marked on 26 January? Some believe 26 January commemorates the landing of the First Fleet, when convicts from England first set foot in Australia in 1788.But the ships actually arrived at Sydney's Botany Bay around a week earlier, sometime between 18-20 January. They decided to shift further north after finding the bay unsuitable. Why do some see it as a ‘Day of Mourning’? The arrival of the First Fleet is not seen as a day to celebrate by many due to the massacres and treatment Indigenous people experienced at the hands of the British settlers.Professor Darian-Smith said opposition to celebrating 26 January was not new, and Aboriginal activists declared it a Day of Mourning as early as 1938.Tens of thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians also marched in protest against the day in 1988, Australia's bicentennial year.“The 26th of January will always be a day of mourning and a day of lament for my people,” Aboriginal pastor Ray Minniecon told SBS News before Australia Day in 2018.“It was a deliberate invasion of our people. It also meant the massacres and genocides of our peoples right across this country.”
Who else wants to change the date? Over the years non-Indigenous Australians have acknowledged the issues around celebrating 26 January.Many businesses including Woolworths, Telstra, Network Ten, Deloitte, KPMG, EY, PwC, Woodside Energy, and even the University of Wollongong have announced they will allow their employees to take a different day off.READ MOREVictoria quietly axes Australia Day parade sparking both praise and 'disappointment'In 2017, the ABC's national youth radio station Triple J announced it would change its popular Hottest 100 countdown to a different day after 60 per cent of listeners surveyed said it should out of respect for Indigenous Australians.Fremantle Council voted in late 2016 to move its traditional Australia Day celebrations out of respect for Indigenous people. Dozens of other councils cancelled their citizenship ceremonies including Yarra and Darebin in Melbourne.Victoria cancelled this year's Australia Day parade.
